Concern about dangers of discarded injection paraphernalia has prompted the tattoo artist James Takeo to launch an online petition which asks Welland city council to investigate installing sharps containers in public places such as city parks. Takeo said he posted the petition on social media during the second week of this month. He said as of Tuesday it had racked up 715 signatures. He is pleasantly surprised by the response. The petition says: "Too many times there have been incidences of needles being improperly disposed of in city garbage cans or in other public places in our community. This poses a safety risk for all members of the community, especially city workers and staff who often must take the responsibility of disposal of these sharps. [continues 919 words]
LOWELL, Mass. -- They hide in weeds along hiking trails and in playground grass. They wash into rivers and float downstream to land on beaches. They pepper baseball dugouts, sidewalks and streets. Syringes left by drug users amid the heroin crisis are turning up everywhere. In Portland, Maine, officials have collected more than 700 needles so far this year, putting them on track to handily exceed the nearly 900 gathered in all of 2016. In March alone, San Francisco collected more than 13,000 syringes, compared with only about 2,900 in the same month in 2016. [continues 709 words]
Efforts underway to establish a new needle exchange site in the city The North Parry Sound District Health Unit indicated in a release Friday that harm reduction services, including the needle exchange program, continue to operate in the community and that work is underway to find ways to further increase access. The release comes ahead of the closure at the end of the month of a key needle exchange site located at the Nipissing Detoxification and Substance Abuse Program on King Street. It's one of three exchange sites in the city. [continues 391 words]
Life for the police in North Bay is going to become at least a little more difficult. The city is going to lose its primary needle exchange program. Police Chief Shawn Devine has warned that this will put the public and others at risk. The Nipissing Detoxification and Substance Abuse Program is slated to close in September. The North Bay Regional Health Centre is cutting the program. The report carried some alarming or amazing statistics about needle exchanges. The ordinary citizen may wonder where or who are the people using all these needles. [continues 280 words]
Drug use in jail is a reality and reducing harm is vital, say Richard Elliott and Rick Lines. Almost one-third of federal prisoners reported using drugs during the past six months. In December 2016, federal Health Minister Jane Philpott committed her government to a new national drug strategy that reinstates harm reduction as a non-negotiable pillar. It was a welcome announcement, signalling a modest shift away from the last decade's emphasis on prohibition and punishment - policies that continue to kill people who use drugs in Canada. [continues 590 words]
An environmental group has collected another 50 used needles from Mohawk Lake. "That's a lot of used needles and we were only out there for an hour-and-a-half," said Tracey Bucci, of the Grand River Environmental Group, whose cleanup effort at Mohawk Park on Saturday attracted 13 volunteers. "It has really become a major problem. "Most of them had caps on them but many did not and that's a safety concern for people, especially young children and pets." [continues 457 words]
The members of the Middlesex-London Board of Health endorsed Thursday evening a motion to take the "next steps" to set up a supervised-injection site for drug users in London. That essentially means determining what the method will be for moving forward with the project. As part of that, there will be a public consultation before setting up any such site, including talking to the people in the chosen neighbourhood, including residents and business. The first part of the three-pronged motion covered accepting a feasibility study. Dr. Gayanne Hovhannisyan, the acting medical officer of health, led the discussion. [continues 68 words]
Volunteers clean up 1,000 discards a year in a city weighing supervised drug injection site. Tom Cull has more than 1,000 reasons - discarded needles - for London to support a supervised drug injection site. "We pick them up under bridges, along the watercourse, on the (river) banks, in parks," he says. Once a month, from the beginning of April to the start of winter, he and his crew of volunteers with the Thames River Rally pick up garbage along the river in London. [continues 328 words]
A startling dissection of drug use in London - with the personal illnesses and public ills exposed - has laid on the table a compelling case for a supervised injection site in the city. But the sticky questions of exactly where the site or sites should go, whether the city can take the other steps necessary to make a site worthwhile, and how crystal meth and fentanyl will play a role remain unanswered. The lead researcher of a study on providing supervised injection in London did have one answer for residents still questioning the sanity of giving people a place to inject their illicit drugs. [continues 725 words]
Amid rising HIV rates and an entrenched needle culture, London researchers will unveil Wednesday a study on the value of a supervised injection site in the city. Researchers interviewed 200 people who are or were injection drug users to assess people's willingness to use the sites and about 20 representatives from health care, law enforcement, government and community organizations to get feedback. "There are several general recommendations based on the results of the study," but no specific direction to any agency or organization, Western University researcher Ayden Scheim said Monday. [continues 377 words]
In Canada we are ruled by law, not by those who enforce the law or wield government power. Council must abandon the idea that laws can be enforced selectively according to the whim or discretion of city staff or officials. Similarly, a law cannot be considered "temporary" unless it specifies an expiry date or condition. Here is another feature of Canadian law that's not about to change: A municipal government does not have legal authority to regulate cannabis per se. [continues 265 words]
When Ottawa recently announced a multi-pronged strategy to fight the deadly fentanyl crisis - a strategy that includes supervised drug consumption sites - Health Minister Jane Philpott boasted of "our renewed, evidence-based approach to Canada's drug strategy." If Ottawa is so keen on an evidence-based approach to drugs, why did it walk away from mediation aimed at settling a lawsuit calling on the government to provide needle exchanges in prisons? Mediation sessions were scheduled this week but Ottawa's lawyers backed out at the last minute. The lawsuit, brought in part by a former inmate who acquired hepatitis C behind bars, is going forward. [continues 348 words]
One woman relied on old needles used by her friend's diabetic husband. Another settled for whatever syringes she could find. But for the first time since they started using drugs several years ago, both women have access to fresh syringes. They are getting them through a needle exchange in Frankfort. "If you can have a new one every time, why wouldn't you?" asked the younger of the two women, who both spoke to the CJ on condition of anonymity for fear of being stigmatized or getting fired. "I think it's awesome that they're doing this. [continues 1730 words]
Machines may be used to give addicts access to clean supplies Ottawa Public Health is exploring a pilot project that would allow drug users to access clean needles and pipes from a vending machine. Deputy Medical Officer of Health Vera Etches said the idea goes back to 2013, when OPH hosted a needs assessment with feedback from community groups and police looking at service gaps. "Most services that distribute supplies so people will use sterile supplies each time and decrease their risk of transmission operate Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.," she said. "There's no place for people to access supplies overnight and on weekends." [continues 228 words]
Needle-dispensing vending machines could be installed at five locations across central Ottawa, making it the first city in Canada to offer sterile syringes in machines to reduce drug-related virus transmission. Vera Etches, the deputy medical officer of health, said Ottawa Public Health hasn't yet decided what material would be available in the vending machines, but needles and crack pipes are definite possibilities. The machines would fill a gap in service for drug users who need clean needles when a community program is closed for the day. There are no 24/7 services that provide clean needles. [continues 514 words]
The Sandy Hill Community Health Centre is submitting a request to be named as a safe injection site in Ottawa. Needle-dispensing vending machines could be installed at five locations across Ottawa, making it the first city in Canada to offer sterile syringes in machines to reduce drug-related virus transmission. Vera Etches, the deputy medical officer of health, said Ottawa Public Health hasn't yet decided what material would be available in the vending machines, but needles and crack pipes are definite possibilities. [continues 421 words]
[photo] Dr. Deepak Ariga holds a needle favored by drug users in Hammond on April 9, 2015. (Jim Karczewski, Post-Tribune) An HIV outbreak in Scott County, Ind., has infected 106 people. Can needle exchanges stem the tide? An HIV outbreak in Scott County, Ind., has infected 106 people thus far, and despite reservations, Gov. Mike Pence green-lit a 30-day needle exchange program to stem the tide. But public health advocates say the exchange program should be extended to really make an impact and expanded across the state as such programs have been shown to be effective in stemming the tide of HIV and hepatitis C infection among IV drug users. [continues 1235 words]
[photo] A sign points to the entrance the Community Outreach Center in Austin, Ind., on April 4, 2015. (Tyler Stewart, AP) State and local health officials began a needle-exchange program Saturday in a southeastern Indiana county where an HIV outbreak among intravenous drug users has grown to nearly 90 cases. Scott County's needle-exchange program was created through an emergency executive order signed last week by Gov. Mike Pence in an attempt to curb the state's largest-ever HIV outbreak. That 30-day order temporarily suspended Indiana's ban on such programs, but only for the southeastern Indiana county about 30 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky. [continues 200 words]
Heavy with needle users, London could move a step closer in February to a supervised injection site for drug-addicted residents amid renewed debate about the idea. The results of a feasibility study that surveyed 200 current and former needle users, as well as police, politicians, and social service and health agency representatives, is to be released in early February, Christopher Mackie, the Middlesex-London medical officer of health, said Wednesday. That study won't suggest a location or timeline to establish a site, but one area Conservative MP already is raising the alarm about the possibility. [continues 448 words]
A Needle Exchange Program operates in several sites across the county in Clinton, Seaforth and Goderich. In Clinton it is offered through the Huron County Health Unit, in Goderich it is offered through Choices For Change and in Seaforth it is through Dr. Datema's Methadone clinic. However, the Health Unit in Clinton is used the most due to its accessibility. The health unit's website states: "Like all health units in Ontario, the Huron County Health Unit offers a needle exchange program at several sites across the county. [continues 322 words]
